The Lions brought Teddy Bridgewater out of his quasi-retirement last December, clearly feeling the need to fortify their QB room for the end of the regular season and the playoffs. While head coach Dan Campbell tried to downplay the notion that the Bridgewater addition signified a lack of faith in 2023 draftee Hendon Hooker – who had served as Jared Goff ‘s backup to that point in the 2024 campaign – Hooker was not automatically returned to the QB2 post this year.
Instead, Detroit signed Kyle Allen in March, and Campbell said a competition for the backup job would commence. At the moment, Allen is decisively winning that competition and therefore appears to be in line to open the season behind Goff on the depth chart.
In the Lions’ preseason game against the Dolphins on Saturday, Allen got the start and completed 14 of 17 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns, including a score at the end of a well-constructed two-minute drill (h/t Dave Brikett of the Detroit Free Press ).
Hooker, by contrast, completed six of 13 passes for 61 yards and an interception. As Birkett observes, the Miami game represented the third time in three preseason contests – Detroit was one of the participants in the Hall of Fame Game – that Allen has outplayed Hooker, a fact Campbell acknowledged when addressing the media afterwards.
“He’s playing better,” Campbell said of Allen (via Birkett). “So I would say that right now, if you’re saying – if you had to go in with a [QB2] right now, who would you trust more? Yeah, I would trust Kyle more because he’s proven more after these two games. But I’m still – we’re still going to coach Hooker up and we’re still going to see what’s there and see if we can get him better. I mean, we still got a little bit here.”
It is fair to wonder how much another week or so of coaching will improve Hooker’s stock with the organization. Entering the NFL after a November 2022 ACL tear dinged his prospect status, Hooker was the fifth quarterback chosen that year. Rumblings about first- and second-round landing spots circulated before that draft, but the once-surging University of Tennessee QB tumbled into Round 3.
Two years remain on Hooker’s rookie contract, and although he is entering just his third professional season, he is now 27. The fact that he seems to be losing ground to the 29-year-old Allen, who has become a nomadic backup/third-stringer since a 12-start audition in 2019, is a disappointing development.
Campbell went on to say Hooker may get the start in next week’s preseason finale against the Texans. At the very least, he will get an extended look as he fights for his place on the club.
Under Campbell, the Lions have made a habit of carrying only two passers on the 53-man roster.